Football managers advised to eat broccoli to combat stress

Being a football manager can be a job that comes with high levels of uncertainty and work-related stress.

To help combat this, the League Managers Association (LMA) has issued a 120-page survival guide to provide advice from psychologists, addiction councillors and heart experts.

The guide advises managers to practice yoga, eat broccoli and take 20-minute naps should the strain of the job get too much.

No doubt there is intense pressure in the dugouts: you only have to recall Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger and Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho (pictured) having a touchline spat during a Premier League game in 2014.

The booklet suggests that doing pilates and meditating while managers brush their teeth could also combat this type of stress and boost wellbeing.

Sadly the old pre-match routine of steak and chips is not referenced in guide. Instead, the guide advises eating cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli, soybeans, eggs and liver to keep the brain stimulated.

While it is hard to imagine ‘Big’ Sam Allarydce, Louis Van Gaal and Wenger attempting yoga positions, Employee Benefits wonders if benefits managers could take a leaf out of the suggested football managers’ rituals to boost their own employee wellbeing.